Hartke finished fifth to claim the top spot among Chugiak-Eagle River athletes. The senior covered a wet course in 27:24.7, a little over two minutes off the pace set by winner Lydia Blanchett of West.

The “Chugiak Stampede” race was originally scheduled for the trails at Beach Lake, but this winter’s unseasonably warm temperatures and rain swamped that plan.

That’s not unusual. Parks and Recreation Department Director John Rodda told the local Parks Board on Monday, Jan. 14 that trails in the area aren’t skiable.

“There are no trails,” he told the board.

A winter of below-average snowfall, he said, combined with recent warm weather and rain, had conspired to destroy what trails the department had been maintaining.

“In some areas that’s all there is — nothing,” he said of ski trails at Beach Lake turned to gravel over the preceding week.

But on Saturday, Kincaid still had plenty of snow to host hundreds of Anchorage-area athletes for the interval-start event.